Book Review: A Court of Wings and Ruin (A Court of Thorns and Roses #3) by Sarah J. Maas

A Court of Wings and Ruin (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #3) by Sarah J. Maas Genres: Fantasy, New Adult Format Read: Hardback Pages: 705 Published by Bloomsbury Australia, Bloomsbury USA on May 2nd 2017 Book Depository | Buy from publisher

A nightmare, I’d told Tamlin. I was the nightmare.

Feyre has returned to the Spring Court, determined to gather information on Tamlin’s maneuverings and the invading king threatening to bring Prythian to its knees. But to do so she must play a deadly game of deceit — and one slip may spell doom not only for Feyre, but for her world as well. As war bears down upon them all, Feyre must decide who to trust amongst the dazzling and lethal High Lords — and hunt for allies in unexpected places.

A Court of Wings and Ruin marks the end to bad-ass human turned fae, Feyre Archeron’s story. And oh my god, what an ending. At just a little over 700 pages, it was definitely the ending that I needed to read, to round off this brilliant trilogy of magic, mind games and deceit.

While I did give the third book in the trilogy a well deserved 5 stars — because let’s be honest, Sarah J. Maas had me hooked from the very moment I discovered her writing on FictionPress — now that I think back and reflect on the series as a while, A Court of Mist and Fury takes the cake for being the best book in this series.

Following on from that bloody cliffhanger in ACOMAF, I was super excited to jump back into this world and finally find out how all my dear characters fared. And let me tell you, Maas never ceases to take me on a ride. I call it the Maas rollercoaster — when the ride dips and falls, you can truly feel your stomach dropping from what’s happening on the page. And when the coaster lifts again, you feel the sunlight beaming at you like you’ve entered the happiest place on earth.

700+ pages is a lot for a book, but I love it. While the pacing was slow at times (read: first 50% of the book), I actually didn’t mind it. I really enjoyed savouring the time that I had with the characters that I’ve come to love, and learning more about the others like Nesta, Elain, Jurian, Lucien and even…Hybern. I actually wished there was more pages dedicated to Jurian — he’s become this enigma with a super interesting backstory that I just want to devour. With Maas and Bloomsbury having announced more books being published around this world, I’m crossing my fingers and toes that one of them will be dedicated to this fae warrior.

Without spoiling too much, the war with Hybern was downright epic. The whole lead up to the final battle had me on the edge of my seat because everything and everyone was fair game, knowing Maas 😉 I’ve come to love these characters so bloody much, and you have no idea just how much I cried through the entire battle sequence. It was perfect guys, perfect.

You know what wasn’t perfect though? While I love, love, LOVE, Feyre and Rhysand together (OTP!), those sex scenes was just awkward AF. What was great about their relationship in ACOMAF was the sexual tension. Now that they’ve gone beyond that stage and are overly loved up, I just…I dunno, it feels like a little bit over the top. And the way they kept referring to each other as ‘mates’ in every single conversation — like they were possessions — sigh, just not my thing.

But other than that, every other pairing was beautiful. I love the slow burn between the strong-headed Nesta and Cassian, and also Lucien and Elain’s relationship. It wasn’t rushed which was a perfect touch, especially because Elain was still recovering from the events in the previous book. And I do need to give a quick shout out to Tamlin, who eventually did the right thing in the end. Those final words he said to Feyre on that hill top were perfect, and I do hope he finds happiness in the future, despite everything that he had done.

Sarah J. Maas’s stories never cease to put me straight into a book hangover. But you know what gets me out of it? Knowing that there will be more stories within this world. I can definitely see strings of new story lines that were teased in the final chapters, which I’m super excited for. But pleaaase, I need a story of Jurian. 😀

If you have yet to pick up this series, I urge you to drop everything and purchase the ENTIRE series from your nearest bookstore now. Now I’m off to find a way to bring myself out of this book hangover.

Joy is the head honcho of Thoughts By J. Her favourite genres are fantasy, sci-fi, mysteries, and the occasional romance that makes her heart beat faster. You'll find she's quite sporadic with her blog posts, but will definitely find the time to reply to all your comments, and visit your blogs...it's just a matter of when.

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The books and items reviewed on Thoughts By J are purchased by us unless explicitly specified. We occasionally receive books for review from Australian publishers in exchange for an honest review. Thoughts By J does not receive monetary compensation for our reviews or posts.